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From Moquehue, a wide dirt road runs 31km to Lago Norquinco , the northern border of Parque Nacional Lanin and 1060m above sea level. There's no public transport along this route and hitching isn't easy as there's little traffic. On the way there are good views of peaks along the Chilean border and mountainsides half-clad in araucaria. Cerro Impodi (2100m) is an impressive silvery-grey massif of bare rock halfway along the route. South of Impodi is a gushing waterfall on the eastern side of the road and then some stunning, sheer basalt cliffs topped by araucaria, at the foot of which runs the Arroyo Remeco. Much of this region formed the focus for a heated dispute in the 1990s, when Mapuche groups tried, unsuccessfully, to reclaim land that had been ceded to the private Pulmari Corporation and which passed into government hands during the Peron administration. At the west end of Lago Norquinco is a signposted turn-off to a free national park campsite (no services), from where a track runs around the south of the lake to a gendarmeria post - this is the most direct link to both the trek described below and the guardaparque post. Alternatively, stay on the main road and pass small Lago Nompehuen , which is good for fishing, to get to Eco Camping (tel 156-61356; $5 per person; closed mid-April to mid-Nov), a beautiful lakeside site run on commendably rigorous environmental lines that outclasses almost anything else in the country. In peak season (Jan & Feb) you can rent bikes and hire horses from here; they also sell fishing permits. An hour's walk east of Eco Camping takes you past the scattered houses of Norquinco settlement to the bridge over the Rio Pulmari; or, if you can bear the cold and the water level is low enough (generally Nov-April), ford the river where it drains the lake, to the picnic spot on the other side (no camping here). This cuts off a loop of almost 4km if you're not interested in seeing the rehue , a Mapuche altar, described below. From the Pulmari bridge there are two routes. From here, it's 32km to the slightly busier RP23, and another 20km to Alumine. On the way, 1.5km from the bridge, is another national park campsite ($2 per person); and on the side of the road past the park gate is a monument to one of the last battles of the Campaign of the Desert. Alternatively, take the track heading west to the Seccional Norquinco guardaparque post (35min). Shortly past the cattle grid, you can detour left, uphill along another track, to see the only surviving rehue in situ in Argentina. It's about twenty minutes away, in the middle of a small grassland plateau, up above the basalt cliff. The rehue is a cypress post, carved crudely into the shape of a man, and badly weathered. It stood unused from 1947 until the year 2000, when the first Nguillatun prayer ceremony in fifty years was held here, with Mapuche delegations from both sides of the border attending. The guardaparque will inform you of other walks in the area, including a one-hour route that visits three waterfalls, and ones in the well-preserved Lago Pilhue area by the Chilean border.
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